Furniture seat construction



P 934. L. A. SUEKOFF FURNITURE SEAT CONSTRUCTION Filed April 24, 1931 Patented Apr. 3, 1934 UNITED STATES P A r Louis A. Suekoff, Wilmette, Ill., assignor to Nachman Spring-Filled Corporation, Chicag0,,lll., a

corporation of Illinois Application April 24, 1931, Serial No. 532,466

4 Claims.

This invention relates to furniture seats and has for its main object to provide spring assemblies for seating furniture such as chairs, davenports, and the like, which present all of the desirable characteristics of the conventional spring assemblies of the various types employed in the furniture seating art and, at the same time, af-

ford a means by which the manufacturer of seating furniture may effect appreciable saving in the cost of said spring assembly.

The present invention is particularly applicable to upholstered furniture of the type most commonly found in the living rooms and libraries of homes, and wherein the seat-bottom contains a spring assembly upon which the upholstery padding is supported or which constitutes a yielding support for a loose cushion or cushions.

In the manufacture of furniture it has become common practice for the producer of finished upholstered furniture to purchase frames from one factory, spring assemblies from another, and the upholstery materials from others, and then assemble the same to provide the completed article of furniture.

The seat frames of davenports and chairs are of somewhat varied shapes in plan and especially with respect to the shape of the front rail of the seat frame which, in some instances, is straight, and in many and probably most other instances, is curved to various degrees with respect to radius and more complex shapes as, for example, long scallops or alternate concave and convex portions.

In the type of furniture referred to, the spring assembly lies within the seat frame and is supported upon fabric webbing which forms the bottom of said frame. The spring assembly is of appreciably greater height than the depth of the seat frame and includes a front extension portion which rests upon the front rail of the seat frame and has a front edge of the same contour as the front face of the sad front rail.

The arms of the chair, in some instances, eX- tend to the front face of the front rail of the seat frame or front faces of the front legs, while in other instances, they extend to a point several inches back of the said front face. In the latter event, the front extension portion of the spring assembly is required to include end extension portions to rest upon the seat frame in front of the arms of the chair.

The manufacturer of the completed upholstered furniture may, during a season, have initial orders for a certain number of pieces of each of several designs or types above mentioned and generally anticipates further orders for at least some of said various designs. Hence, in purchasing the spring assemblies for these various designs and in order that he may secure the more advantageous price and also that he may have a surplus of stock on hand for quick delivery of ad diticnal orders, the orders for spring assemblies will cover an excess over immediate or known requirements which may or may not be used so that, at the end of the season, this manufacturer finds himself in possession of a number of spring assemblies of various shapes with respect to their front extenion portions which he cannot use and which cannot be altered at all in some instances or in others only at some little cost.

The size of the main or body portions of spring assemblies used in successive seasons remains substantially the same so that it is obviously advantageous to the manufacturer to buy an ample number of such standard size units to meet his maximum demands in one season because any surplus can be used during the succeeding season.

It is the purpose of this invention toprovide means whereby the last-mentioned advantage will accrue to the manufacturer and providing other advantages as will be hereinafter fully pointed out.

In the accompanying drawing illustrating exemplary embodiments of the invention:

Figs. 1 and 2 are top plan views showing exemplary frames of davenports equipped with same on the line 5--5 of Fig. 4.

The furniture frames shown in Figs. 1 and 2 are alike with respect to the back portion 1 and side arms 2 thereof, all of which are substantially vertically aligned with the rear and side rails, respectively, of the seat frame, the side arms 2 terminating at points spaced from the front faces or edges of the side rails 3 of the seat frame.

The front rail 4 of the seat frame of the structure shown in Fig. 1 is of the same contour in plan along its front face as the front portion 5 of the wire frame 6 shown in Fig. 1, while the the seat frame.

said front rails of said respective seat frames.

Each of said front rails of said seat frames is,

p as shown in Fig. 4, provided. along its upper edge portion with an inwardly extending flange. 9.

In the instance illustrated, a fabric web structure 10 forms the bottom wall of the seat frame and may be of any one of several conventional types of construction. In this instance also, said web structure consists of a rectangular sheet of suitable fabric equipped with a wire border frame 11 engaged with tension springs 12 at intervals, said springs 12 being suitably engaged at their other ends with the several component rails of The type of web support for the spring assembly employed forms no part of the present invention and is, therefore, not illustrated in detail.

Mounted upon and preferably secured to the web structure 10, or other supporting base, is a series of rows of springs 13 which are suitably held against displacement relatively to each other or in predetermined assembled relation to constitute a rectangular spring assembly which is of somewhat less width and length than the corresponding inner dimensions of the seat frame and accords substantially, in the instance illustrated, with the corresponding dimensions of the fabric sheet of the web structure is upon which the springs 13 are supported.

The front edge portion of the spring assembly, which may be of the type comprising a fabric housing subdivided into individual pockets or cells containing the respective component springs 13, or may be of any other conventional type, is disposed in close proximity to the rear edge of the flange 9 of the front rail of the seat frame. The height of the spring assembly is such that the major portion thereof projects above the plane of the top edge of the seat frame.

The web structure 10 and spring assembly supported thereon, may be regarded as substantially standard size elements of upholstered seat furniture made by all manufacturers of spring assemblies in sizes to fit chairs, davenports, and other I types of the various sizes found on the market and may and are, therefore, ordinarily purchased in quantities or bales of a certain number each by the furniture manufacturers who make or purchase the frames and produce the completed upholstered articles.

In instances such as those herein illustrated, wherein the front faces of the front rails of the seat frames differ in contour in plan, it has been necessary for the furniture manufacturer to order spring assemblies having front extension portions to overlie the front rails of the seat frames to as great an extent as the straight front edge of the said extension portion would permit without projecting at any point beyond the vertical plane of the front face of the front rail of the seat frame, thereby leaving unfilled gaps between the front edge portions of the extensions of the spring assembly and the outwardly curved or other projecting portions of the front rails of .the seat frame which were required to be filled with padding material. The padding becomes bunched and distorted in use of the furniture and thus eventually produces an irregular and unsightly front edge portion of the upholstered ;seat.

The present invention consists essentially in providing a front extension portion 14 for the main spring assembly which may consist of a unitary member as shown in Fig. 1, or may be composed of a plurality of sections 15 as shown in Fig. 2. The member 14, and each of the sectional portions 15, comprises a narrow spring assembly which may be of any one of a number of types but is preferably of the type wherein the springs 16 are enclosed in a fabric housing providing individual cells or pockets for the respective component springs.

This narrow structure or spring assembly ineludes an exposed wire frame element 1'? which is straight along its inner edge and has its outer edge or bar portion 18 bent to substantially coincide'with the contour in plan of the outer face of the front rail of the chair seat which it is intended to overhang, the lateral and longitudinal dimensions of said frame element 1'? conforming substantially with those of the support for the spring assembly which includes the top edge of the front rail and the top face of the flange thereof.

The component springs of the assembly 14 are secured to the rear portion or bar of the frame element 17 by means of hog-nose rings 19or equivalent means which engage the upper end 1 coils of said springs.

The springs 16 included in the assembly 14 or 15, as the case may be, are preferably of diameters coinciding as nearly as economic manufacturing practice permits, with the width of the frame element 1'7 at the points diametric of the spring occupying a given position relatively to said member 17. This variation in diameters of the respective springs 16 is not absolutely essential. The side arms or portions of the wire frame element 17 are secured tothe top coils of the end springs of the assembly by means of said hog-nose rings or other means and, as far as is practicable, the front bar portion of'the frame element 1'7 is also similarly secured to the top coils of at least a sufficient number of said springs 16 to cause the latter normally to support said frame element in a horizontal plane.

The spring assembly 14, or the assemblies 15,

are suitably attached to the main spring assem-- bly by means of hog-nose rings 19 or other means engaged with the rear bar portion of the frame element 17 and the upper front corner portion of the main spring assembly, said attaching means 19 being preferably engaged. with the top'coils of the front springs 13 of the main spring assembly or to the top border frame of the latter, if present.

In the event that the springs 16 are varied in diameter, as above pointed out, they will also vary proportionately in load capacity per inch of compression bu 1, because of the fact that these springs 16 are prevented from acting independently of each other or substantiallyso, by the frame member 1'7 which serves to cause a group compression of said springs under the influence of load at practically any part of said frame member, these springs 16 are preferably of a differ- As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the springs of the casings 14 and 15 may be spaced apart and, in that event, they are coupled by means of suitable links (20).

The present invention permits the lower edge of the boxing strip to be turned in and secured to the upper edge of the front rail of the chair seat, the assembly 14 or 15 being turned back during the operation so as to rest upon the main spring assembly or the said assembly 14 or 15 and the member or members 17 are not placed in ultimate position until the said lower edge portion of the boxing has been secured. The assembly 14 or 15 may be properly positioned thereafter and secured to the main spring assembly as above pointed out.

I claim as my invention:

1. A furniture seat including a seat frame presenting a front face of fanciful contour, a main spring assembly mounted within the seat frame and projecting above the level thereof, a secondary shallow spring assembly secured along its rear upper edge to the upper front edge of the main assembly and supported upon the front rail of said frame, said secondary assembly including springs of different diameters arranged with their rear edge portions disposed in a common vertical plane, said assembly presenting a front face portion co-inciding in shape substantially with the front face of the front rail of the frame and vertically aligned therewith.

2. A furniture seat comprising a seat frame including a front rail presenting a front face of curviform contour and equipped with an extension portion presenting a straight rear edge, said rail and extension portion presenting a fiat top surface constituting a spring-support, a support for springs at the bottom of said seat frame, a conventional spring assembly supported upon said bottom support and being of greater height than the depth of said seat frameand having its front face disposed substantially in contact with the rear edge of the extension portion of the front rail, a second spring assembly having a front wall corresponding in contour with the front wall of said front rail and disposed flush with the latter, and having its rear wall abutting the front wall of the first-mentioned spring assembly and secured to the latter.

3. A furniture seat comprising a seat frame including a front rail presenting a front face of curviform contour and equipped with an extension portion presenting a straight rear edge, said rail and extension portion presenting a flat top surface constituting a spring-support, a support for springs at the bottom of said seat frame, a conventional spring assembly supported upon said bottom support and being of greater height than the depth of said seat frame and having its front face disposed substantially in contact with the rear edge of the extension portion of the front rail, a second spring assembly having a front wall corresponding in contour with the front wall of said front rail and disposed flush with the latter and having its rear wall abutting the front wall of the first-mentioned spring assembly and pivotally secured to the latter along its upper rear corner.

4. A furniture seat comprising a seat frame including a front rail presenting a front face of non-straight contour and having a straight rear face, the top face of said rail constituting a spring support, a spring support at substantially the bottom of said frame, a conventional spring assembly of greater height than the depth of the said seat frame mounted on the said bottom support and having its front wall substantially abutting the rear edge of the front rail and a secondary shallow spring assembly conforming in shape and size with the top face of the front rail and loosely mounted upon the latter and pivotally secured along its upper rear corner to the firstmentioned spring assembly along the upper front corner of the latter.

LOUIS A. SUEKOFF. 

